Enter the Michell Gyrodec SE. This has always been a deck for me to
aspire to. In my personal opinion it looks as good now
as it did when it first came out all those years back. In fact, “coming
out” may be a great description, as the deck has really evolved rather than
been a new invention and says “never mind what I once was, look at me now,
aren’t I stunning?”. This is not an unkindness to the original
Transcriptors which Michell made under licence at one point, as that remains a
superb looking and performing deck and is still available today for a
significant premium over the Gyro.

The Gyro can trace its
roots back to the Transcriptors Hydraulic Reference Deck for which some styling
queues are still evident on it today. The round platter weights are still
there, albeit now under-slung; the purposeful and industrial look (that’s
probably unfair…perhaps “solid architectural” is a better description) has
remained, and the original Transcriptors Genes are still pretty evident.
The main difference, besides the inversion of the platter weights, are the off
board drive motor and suspended chassis with the arm board mount incorporated
at one end of it.

Its a clever design in many
ways. It enables arm interchangability via bespoke mounting plinths
available from Michell, has nifty adjustable feet to get level spot on, and
uses a sprung chassis to eliminate footfall resonances. A closer
inspection reveals the underside of the chassis is heavily damped using tacky
black damping material and the engineering quality is peerless. I had the
TechnoArm(A) fitted to start with which was a big improvement over the
RB600. It had the VTA adjustment, the Technoweight and importantly it had
some of the resonance issues which I suspected of the standard arms
mitigated. Michell did this by drilling the arm, using a shot peened
finish and improving the internal damping. So it wasn’t just my
imagination and Michell considered that this was one area that could be
improved upon! I had fitted a Goldring Eroica MC cartridge after
destroying my second BPS EvoIII (that nude cantilever just asks to be
snagged!).

Soundwise, the first
impressions were that whilst the P25 had been airy and detailed sounding, the
Gyro was more solid and authoritative. Bass was better defined and deeper
and more detail just seemed to get through. I think in part this was not
just the arm, but the solid plinth which is a huge improvement over the glass
platter of the Rega. Michell say that this is made from a composite with
similar resonance characteristics as the LP itself, so when the record clamp is
used in essence, you get a big heavy thick LP which is less prone to unwanted
resonance feedback to the stylus. Listening impressions confirm this is
the case. A short period of time convinced me that this deck could do
better and in keeping with my (by now) suspicions about Rega arm variants, I
swapped the arm for an SME309. Fitted to the Gyro, this is a marriage
made in heaven.

Not only did the arm
addition improve the clarity and detail of the upper registers, it reinforced
that solid architectural sound that I found with the Michell. It elevated
the deck to a truly authoritative performer, and whilst I have little doubt
that the Orbit deck improves on this further, The Gyro is probably all the deck
I’ll ever want or need.